


The Black Beast in Canaan

by DawnMachine019



Category: Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:29:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27133897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DawnMachine019/pseuds/DawnMachine019
Summary: The Supreme Primarch prepares to endure a recurring nightmare, yet things are different from usual.
Kudos: 6





	The Black Beast in Canaan

The gardens of Canaan welcomed Sandalphon with pristine beauty, yet the primarch took no comfort in the sight. Serene as the sight was, he knew it lay not without undertones. Canaan, the floating homeland of the primarchs, was long since destroyed, taken from him along with Lucifer on that fateful day. Compared to his vast lifespan it may as well have been yesterday, yet the past few years had felt so long. Thoughts of his past and 'what could have been' found a way to haunt the primarch's mind almost every day—or rather, almost every night. Canaan was gone. This wasn't real. It had to be a nightmare, once again. 

“This is complete nonsense. How many times will this part of my past haunt me? Am I not allowed to rest even in slumber?” His fist tightened, and his lips turned into a scowl. “…I know this is my burden to bear. Even as Supreme Primarch, I should never forget the past, not after all I've done. Not after all I've wasted, both for myself and for Lucifer. And yet…!” 

His eyes shut tight, and his teeth ground against each other firmly. He could already see Lucifer's head severed once more. His closest, most cherished friend, taken from him without even a chance to make amends. The skies would darken, and Canaan would be destroyed in its entirety. The black beast would arrive, concluding the nightmare with a hellish battle. Whether Sandalphon won or lost, it didn't matter. Canaan was still destroyed, Lucifer still dead, and the dream would repeat either way just to torment him until he awoke in the morning. It was a recurring nightmare he had many times before, only nowadays broken up with others from fresher wounds on his mind. And yet…

When he opened his eyes, Sandalphon saw no trace of Lucifer. Canaan was still here. In a strange twist of fate, the nihilistic nightmare wasn't playing out its usual way. If there was comfort to be had, Sandalphon neglected to take in any of it. 

“…I don't trust this one bit. I have no faith in my dreams to spare me, so where's the surprise? Is it trying to get my hopes up, just to dash them into pieces? Hmph… 'hide-n-go-seek', I suppose. Very well. I'm not one to rest on my laurels when I know an ambush is coming.” Six wings burst from his back in a radiant glow, with Sandalphon immediately shooting into the sky to survey the land below. Almost everything seemed peaceful—idyllic, you could say—yet a single trace of energy caught his gaze immediately. It was so subtle, it was like trying to see an earthquake on another planet just by looking at the night sky, yet this earthquake was such that could tear an entire world apart. 

“…! That aura!” Sandalphon dove down with blinding speed towards the aura. “I knew this wasn't some utopian dream. The black beast is awaking!” The black beast itself was a towering, demonic figure. In the waking world, it had cleaved its way through the world effortlessly, as if it was the essence of destruction itself. At the time, it was the most powerful force Sandalphon had ever defeated, yet it was ultimately no more than a mindless beast. 

In the dream, its visage took Sandalphon by surprise once more. His blade was already drawn and ready to strike, yet he was taken aback and hesitated before the beast. The beast stood motionless, its gaze staring vacantly off as a black aura surrounds it. Of all the things Sandalphon expected, it certainly wasn't this. The beast was a mindless entity on a rampage. In what world would it ever act so catatonic? 

“Rrrrrrrrgh…” growled the beast in the faintest semblance of acknowledgment, yet its gaze never once turned towards Sandalphon nor his blade. The primarch tightened his grip, glaring the beast down. 

“What trickery is this? That a rampaging monster is here, unwilling to attack anything? …No, this has never happened before, not in any of my dreams. What game is this nightmare trying to pull now?” He glanced around momentarily, as if the sky itself could answer his question. Instead, a voice echoed within his mind, deep and gravely as a growl.

[I can hear you, yet I cannot sense you. I sense nothing. This leaves me uncertain.]

“…!” His eyes shot daggers at the black beast again, readying his sword once more. “It speaks?! Now that is definitely nonsense. The monster never uttered a word, only growling like an animal. And you can understand me too? What are you?” 

[I have no mouth to speak with, and I couldn't speak even if I did. I do not think in words, but in meanings and concepts. My thoughts reach you somehow, and somehow they are coherent. ' The beast's inner voice grew quiet momentarily. 'I am the avatar of Lucilius's will. Your kind refers to me as Avatar.]

“Avatar… Then what is the meaning of this? I thought you a mindless beast, incapable of a peacefulness like this. Even in a dream, that should persist. You always have before.”

[I see no meaning here. That is my answer to your question. Again, I cannot sense anything. As the incarnation of destruction, what am I to do? There is nothing around me. I wouldn't know where to look, and if anything did cross my path then I would destroy it and once again sense nothing left.]

“That's a fragile peace if I've ever seen one. What, do you want me to strike at you to attempt to restore your senses? Doesn't hearing even just my voice fill you with rage?”

[Want? I want nothing. I have never once had a desire. Rage? Equally as absent to me. Do not mistake me as acting on anger. I feel no emotions. When I strike, it is simply because that is what I was made to do. Everything I have done is from pure instinct. As far as I'm concerned, your voice means nothing if I cannot sense you. There's nothing for me to eradicate.]

“Which is to say, as soon as you regain any senses, you'll immediately go back to your rampage once again. Very well. I'm glad we had this talk.” Sandalphon raised his sword to the heavens, channeling the power within his divine wings. “Paradise Lost!” In an instant, light rained down from above, bringing divine judgement down onto Avatar. When the dust had settled, Avatar continued to stand, completely unaffected in every way. 

“It… didn't leave even a scratch…?” Sandalphon stabbed with his sword, only for the blade to pass through Avatar without any contact. The black beast wasn't physically there, even if somehow visible. It was as if the black aura around it was a window to whatever existence Avatar found itself in.

[It seems you tried to attack me, yet I sensed nothing. Felt nothing. It leaves me uncertain as to what you are seeing. It excites the chaos within me, yet there is nothing around.]

“The chaos within you…?”

[Macroorganisms are creatures created out of countless number of microorganisms, all interconnected. I am composed of countless macroorganisms—the angels or primarchs as you call them, filtered through dark taint and used by Lucilius to compose my very being. Those angels still live within me, constantly shifting around in excitement. I do not know what they feel. It could be pleasure or pain. They could want to escape or want to stay. I don't know the answer, as it is irrelevant to what I was made for. It would be like a person caring about the emotions of their internal organs. Whatever they feel, they will serve their purpose within me, and I will serve my own purpose until there is nothing left to destroy. Incidentally, that is my current state. I sense nothing, so there is nothing for me to fulfill until that changes.]

“You bastard… Of course they're in pain, if they're being used by a monster like you! How could you not understand?” 

[As I've said, such things are irrelevant to me. Even the most basic of uses, such as exploiting the emotions of my enemies for an advantage, are beyond me. I was created as a being entirely of instinct. That is why I could not speak even if I had a mouth. I see and understand the world around me, but anything more is unnecessary and thus not part of my functions. Empathy means nothing to me because of that. Even now, the answers I give you are merely my own understandings towards the questions you bring up, echoing into your ears.]

“Which would explain why you never ask any questions back to me. Not even asking for my assistance, because an instinctive, destructive creature like yourself cannot comprehend the need to cooperate. …I could call you an idiot, yet this is how Lucilius intentionally designed you to be. The blame lies with him.”

[I care not whom gets blamed for what. On all other accounts, correct. I need no assistance. Whatever lies in my sight, I will crush without a second thought. All my uncertainty right now lays in how I sense nothing. I have no knowledge of what to do when there is nothing left to destroy. Thus, I shall do nothing until that changes or I die. Such is Lucilius's will, that I carry out as his Avatar.]

“That such an impossible mindset can come from the same researcher who created me… Perhaps if I had been made differently, I'd have the same inhuman mindset as him? It's scarily robotic, and completely unnatural, yet we primarchs were unnatural to begin with.” Sandalphon clutched his forehead with uncertainty flowing through him. Even in a dream, this felt as accurate as a mindset could be for Lucilius's ultimate killing machine. “A creature of pure instinct, having no rationality or sentimentality… was this what Lucilius found beautiful?” Avatar said nothing, as if Sandalphon's musings didn't register to it in the slightest. 

“I have to ask, then. When you said you were composed of countless angels, did any part of them stay with you? Their memories, emotions… anything?” 

[I don't know the answer to that. I never think of the past, nor do I have emotions. The chaos within me surges constantly, and it's possible some of the flares from it would be some part of the angels' personalities. It means nothing to me, yet their essence may still exist in that form. I have no memories, though. All of the past is lost to me, and all of the future is meaningless. Whether I succeed or not, all I will do is follow my instincts and let come what may.]

“Interesting. Vile you still are, there's a strange sort of purity to it. No emotions, no schemes, no worries beyond being who you are and doing what you will. …Before you had ever awoken, I too tried to carve a path of destruction, yet mine was full of rage and emotion. It's the strangest thing in all the skies to hear another would carry out a similar path yet without any meaning behind it.”

Again, Avatar said nothing. Sandalphon smiled, readying his sword once again. 

“…I'm glad we had this talk. This may be the strangest variant of this dream I've had, though I'm certain you don't care about that. Perhaps I could walk away now and try to enjoy a peaceful dream while leaving you hear, yet all this talk of 'roles' and 'purpose' reminds me that, even in a dream, I still am the Supreme Primarch now. You carry on Lucilius's will, while I carry on Lucifer's. Leaving a monster like yourself around is unthinkable. And as this is a dream, I know just how to enter that black void you're in.”

[Then come.]

“Prepare yourself, Avatar!” Just like that, Sandalphon passed through the black aura, entering a pitch black void where Avatar lay. The beast went from catatonic to violent in an instant, attacking just as suddenly as Sandalphon was. Light shot out from Sandalphon, shining bright even in the abyss as it struck against the black beast. With nothing but a void around them, they both fought as fiercely and freely as they could. 

Ultimately, even in this dream Sandalphon found himself abandoning Canaan and fighting against Avatar. Unlike usually, he was not forced into it. He entered the abyss to slay Avatar of his own free will. Likewise, Canaan was not destroyed this time, and Avatar strangely managed to communicate as well. Win or lose, the dream might repeat itself as well. He didn't know. In the morning, this all might be a fond memory for him to have over a cup of coffee. More than anything, the final solace echoed in Sandalphon's heart even in the heat of battle. 

“At the very least, I didn't have to see Lucifer pass away before my eyes again.” A smile found its way to his lips. “Perhaps one day I'll be able to see him alive again in a dream… or in another life.”

**Author's Note:**

> I always loved Sandalphon, but Avatar's the real reason I wrote this. It's always been such a fascinating character to me, but not one you can really explore just because of how unrestrained it is. The grand essence of countless angels, lifeforms typically considered higher than humans, and all of that coalesces into a being free of any selfishness or ill will. Also completely heartless and endlessly destructive, but in a way you can't really call Avatar evil for it. It's just enacting what it was made to do, like a divine killing machine. 
> 
> It also has a really cool design. It's Literally Satan (from Shadowverse) though lore-wise it's technically the most angelic creature to ever exist, along with maybe its bro Metatron. I didn't want to include Metty though since, well, I don't entirely understand him. Is he made of angels too? How does he keep Avatar in check? By fighting him endlessly maybe? I doubt Metatron would even get a cameo in Sandalphon's dreams, ever, so it all works out. The only thing I know for certain about Metty is that he's wearing armor unlike Avatar's bare self. If you didn't know that, just look at Metty's feet. 
> 
> Anyways, this was just a short story to experiment with AO3. Hope you liked it!


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